Friday Fabulous Flower - Gesneriad edition

Let's end the semester in style with a nice Friday fabulous flower.  Another one of our tropical epiphytes that provide so much winter color, in this case a gesneriad (Aeschynanthus) of uncertain hybrid ancestry.  And for an added bonus you get some of Mrs. Phactor's holiday decor; you generally don't find these in the wild with ribbons, but bet this would help attract more hummingbird pollinators.  This plant gets cut back early every summer to grow new shoots while outside, mostly in a partially shady location.  It generally flowers quite readily and for quite some time during December and January.  The only problem is that the nectar present as a reward to hummingbirds remains unconsumed, so when the corolla drops, so does a big drop of nectar.  So don't hang one of these over a carpet or nice piece of furniture.  The foliage is actually rather handsome on this variety showing a purple variegated pattern, and although looking delicate, this plant is quite tolerant of dry household conditions. 

Friday Fabulous Flower - a Gesneriad

Almost didn't get to a fabulous flower today what with so many things to get ready for next week.  With the days getting longer, the glasshouse collection is looking a bit livelier, and at least one new species will bloom soon, one obtained as a small plantlet.  This particular tropical plant gets over looked because it grows in a shadier, even dim, part of the greenhouse, and it's flowers are not particularly gaudy or bright and showy, and that is a bit strange.  But then again, the pollinator of this species is not altogether obvious, and although hummingbirds have been known to visit the flowers, it just isn't exactly their type of flower except for the orientation.  This isn't the first time TPP has featured a gesneriad, a member of the Gesneriaceae, the African violet family to many people because that's the house plant most people know.  This is Drymonia stenophylla from Costa Rica, and the flowers, just after a rain provided by the mist system, are rather subtle with the pale yellow and pinks.  The corollas are quite waxy, almost artificial in appearance, but otherwise similar to the better know Episcias.

Friday Fabulous Flower - Someone else's very sexy Gesneriad

The biggest downside to having been identified early as a talented teacher was that it generated a career trajectory wherein universities offered me jobs and then sort of expected the Phactor to be on campus. Now this is nothing negative about teaching or its rewards, but my highly developed observational skills would have made me a great plant hunter. So there is a touch of envy when these museum/botanical garden colleagues show off some of their latest exotic finds. This one is truly a wonderful gesneriad. Wow! Sorry, uncertain what the species is. Perhaps a Columnea, but don't know this family well.

Friday Fabulous Flower - A Gesneriad

How frustrating to have obtained a fabulous flower picture from my prairie study site only to have e-lost it somewhere, so when your well designed plan fails, punt. While still field season here in Lincolnland, plans are being finalized for this year's tropical field work in Costa Rica, so with a bit of fast forward thinking, here's a fabulous flower, a gesneriad, which means a member of the Gesneriaceae, a largely tropical family of herbaceous plants, best known for the domesticated house plant, the African violet. This wonderful plant is Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, a species mouthful, and in terms of growth it seems most like a Gloxinia because it produces tubers and periodically goes dormant. The display is a combination of showy and persistent calyx tubes, and the yellow-orange corollas. The calyx tubes hold water (just barely visible in this image) that protect the flower bud and young fruit, a not unusual condition among tropical plants.